Set up in a business with a couple of remote offices? There’s technology that’s going to help you keep in touch visually for a relatively low cost.
It’s one of a handful of new tech gadgets that can make offices run more efficiently.
George E. Daddis, Jr., CEO of WorldGate, which is based in Trevose, Penn., recently demonstrated the Ojo Vision Digital Video Phone for me in Manhattan. Using a wireless connection in a busy convention space, he showed how a visual conversation could be carried on with a co-worker in upstate New York. The picture demonstrated amazing clarity and had none of the almost ghost-like movements you get from Skype on a laptop, for example.
Ojo Vision Digital Video Phone features include high quality video; a seven-inch, high-resolution LCD digital screen; plug-and-play installation; digital photo frame; and display to external TV or PC monitor. That last feature is going to serve you best when presenting products across locations.
Maybe the best part is you get more than just videoconferencing. You also receive unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, plus low international rates to all other destinations. Calls to Europe, for example, can cost as little as 3 cents a minute.
Equipment starts at as little as $99.99 with two-year agreement with a $39.99 one-time only activation fee. Rates exclude Internet service. Just use your existing provider.
Call 877-FOR MY OJO or log onto www.ojophone.com for more information.
Biometric Swipe
Corporate problems with lost or stolen laptops could all but disappear with new technology from The Imation Defender Collection that offers a broad portfolio of secure data storage engineered to meet rigorous domestic and international encryption standards.
The most compelling piece of technology in the collection is the Defender F200 Biometric Flash Drive. It is validated at level three of the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). It requires two-factor authentication in the form of a strong password and an ergonomic biometric swipe sensor with hardware-based matching. It comes in a tamper-evident metal enclosure. Company representatives said it is HIPPA compliant.
Suggested retail price is $99 up to $349 with storage capabilities ranging from 1 GB up to 32 GB.
On a simpler level, Imation also makes Defender Optical. This optical media is FIPS 140-2 Level 1 validated, self-encrypting, self-burning and features one-factor authentication (password) for CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R. You can burn DVDs to bring home with sensitive data and not worry about them being lost or stolen. Suggested price ranges from $2.10 to $7.50.
More information is available at www.imation.com.
Drobo
Tom Buiocchi, CEO of Data Robotics Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., is high on his company’s file sharing hardware called Drobo.
“What Apple did for PCs, nobody did for storage,” he told me during a recent conversation at a New York product presentation. He said the company’s Drobo FS provides redundant data protection without the complexities of RAID, a technology that provides increased storage reliability through redundancy, combining multiple low-cost, less-reliable disk drives. Buiocchi said, “Just plug in your Drobo FS and your data protection is all set up with no configuration required. We call this BeyondRAID technology. You’ll call it peace of mind.”
Customers buy their own drives and then plug them into the Drobo FS. It can hold up to five drives. The technology allows users to mix and match drive capacities, brands and speeds. It allows for flexibility as hard drive capacities increase.
Those less technologically able will like the self-healing feature in the Drobo FS. When idle, it examines the blocks and sectors on every drive and flags questionable areas. That helps ensure data is written only to healthy segments of a drive. The Drobo FS also has a dual-drive redundancy to protect data from failure on up to two drives.
More information is available by going online to www.datarobotics.com or 1-866-97DROBO.
Moshi Moshi
All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl and so no technology column would be complete without at least one item of fun technology. That’s why I bring you the Moshi Moshi 04 Bluetooth stereo handset and Pop Phones from Native Union.
The products are the latest innovations in the firm’s expanding Moshi Moshi line, which provides a range of functional and design-focused mobile device handsets created to give consumers a different mobile talking experience.
The MM04 is a high-performance Bluetooth stereo speaker system, professional conference call unit and cell phone handset with noise reduction technology. It can connect with wireless computers and mobile phones within a range of 30 feet, allowing users to conduct both Internet and cell phone calls via the speakers in conference call mode or via the handset for private calls. The conference call can clearly be heard within a 10-foot range. It can be paired with two mobile devices at the same time, and also features auto pick-up/hang-up and auto connect/disconnect.
Available in a rainbow of colors that “pop” — including pink, yellow, dark purple, dark blue and green — the Pop Phones feature a high quality speaker and microphone, and can be used with all mobile phones, when fitted with the correct adapter. When paired with a USB adapter, the handset can be used for VOIP computer telephone calls (Skype, Google Talk, etc.). The handset, fitted with a 3.5 mm jack, also turns an iPad into a telephone.
The MM04 is priced at $199.99, while the Pop Phones are $29.99 each. Both new lines are available at www.nativeunion.com and www.amazon.com.
Keith Griffin writes periodic technology columns for the Hartford Business Journal. Got an idea for office technology you want reviewed? Send an e-mail to kgriffin@hartfordbusiness.com.
